This disclosure relates to spinner fishing lures. More specifically, this disclosure relates to a spinner lure with a built-in line guide element. The line guide provides a means for easy and tangle-free rigging of a second trailing lure behind a line guiding spinner lure.
The basic construction of spinner lures is well known. A generally V-shaped, U-shaped, or straight wire form member defines the frame of the spinner lure. This frame is comprised of three primary features: a fishing line attachment means, a hook attachment means, and a spinner attachment means. Additionally attaching at least one hook and at least one spinner or “blade” to the frame completes the minimum amount of construction required to define a spinner lure. A head is then often attached to vary the casting distance of the lure and the underwater depth at which the lure can be retrieved. An optional soft elastomeric body is frequently added to further attract fish and help conceal the hook. A major drawback of the common spinner lure is that it does not comprise a means for easily rigging a trailing lure in series along a common fishing line. For the sake of this invention, the terms “lure in series” and “series of lures” should be understood to mean “a second lure following behind a first spinner lure while attached to the same unbroken fishing line.”
If an angler attempts to rig a trailing lure behind a common spinner lure by simply tying two spinner lures a few feet apart along a common fishing line, then two major problems are readily experienced. First, the section of line between the first spinner lure and trailing lure becomes entangled with the frame of the first spinner lure as the rig of both lures is cast by an angler. Second, the section of line between the first spinner lure and trailing lure interferes with the steady rotation of the spinner or blade of the first spinner lure during retrieval of the multiple-lure rig.
US 21080066370 describes a fish hook with a top eyelet and a bottom eyelet. Attempting to integrate such a double eyelet hook into a spinner lure and then attaching a trailing lure in a daisy chain fashion—by tying a main line to the spinner lure top hook eyelet and then a leader from the bottom hook eyelet to a trailing lure—would create several disadvantages. First, the angler would need to tie two knots instead of just one at every in-line “double-eyelet hook” location along the chain of lures, making preparation of a multiple-lure rig cumbersome and annoying. Another disadvantage of the double-eyelet hook is that because the second eyelet is made from the same thickness as the hook shank and sits at the bottom or behind the hook shank, the bulky second eyelet would interfere with and prevent the easy slide-on attachment of pre-existing soft body trailers onto the hook shank.
There exists the need for a new and improved type of spinner lure with an integrated line guide element. The novel line guide feature creates non-obvious advantages with regards to the in-line rigging, casting, and retrieval problems discussed above.